Devil's Bride

KakaSaku

Chapter 3

The next morning- Sunday morning- Sakura awoke with a start. Outside her open window, the birds chirped their songs lively as they greeted the new day. But even the bright sunlight leaking through her curtains could not chase away the foreboding feeling that had somehow settled in her stomach during her dream. She did not remember what the dream had been about, only that it had been dark and dangerous and… alluring? The pink-haired girl sat up straight on her bed by now, looking around her room as if she had hopes of finding some clues about her dream's content, but her cream-coloured bedroom (she had enough pink in her hair, thank you very much) did not reveal a single thing.

Still, she could not shake the feeling that there was something off around her.

Shivering a bit, though not from the cold, Sakura quickly got off the bed. She walked over into the attached bathroom to brush her teeth, while the bath tube filled with almost scorching hot water. Just as she liked it. A sidelong glance at the watch told her that she had woken up early, so that she had more than enough time for her bath, too, before she needed to meet with her friends for their picnic. She could even get back into bed for a while to doze away the last vestiges of sleepiness, but she knew better than to try. The dream, whatever it had been about, had set her off so much that there was just no way for her to find any sort of peace in her bed.

For some reason as she slid off her clothes to get into the tube, she felt strangely violated. As if someone was spying on her, watching her get naked. Yet, when she turned around on instinct, there was no one there. Just like in the movies. But when she turned away again, the presence was still there, just lurking behind her. Close, so close she could almost feel it on her skin, and maybe she could, because there were goose-bumps building on her bare back. Sakura shivered again. Quickly making her way into the bath tube, the pink-haired girl told herself over and over again that she was imagining things, that there was no one there, that she was alone and that it was absolutely impossible that anyone could come so close to her without her seeing that person. Shaking her head at her own silly thoughts, Sakura sank into the tube, allowing the hot water to relieve all the tension in her body until her mind was floating between the clouds in the heavens.

Then she felt it again.

Goosebumps building on her skin, even below the heated surface. A tickle in the back of her neck as if someone was blowing his breath against her skin to entice her, arouse her. Sakura shivered once more, her lipds opened as if to moan, before it set in her mind how silly that was. There was nothing there. Just like last time. If she turned around, she would see nothing, so it was probably just a breeze from an open window somewherwe in the house. Yes, that was it.

"Just a breeze. It's just a breeze," Sakura calmed herself. "All I need is to turn around and look. There will be nothing there, because there is nothing there."

As she spoke to herself, the young woman shifted slightly in the bath tube, so that she could look behind her back more comfortably. As she turned, a small shriek escaped her lips, and she jumped to her feet. A second shriek could be heard as the water rose and flew over the brink of the tube, flooding the bathroom. Sakura quickly grabbed a towel to dry herself, while her heart beat at ninety miles per hour and refused to come down. An indignant hiss could be her from the marble floor of her bathroom. The pink-haired student quickly picked the black kitten up, and grabbed another towel to dry it off.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, but you really scared me. I had… I hadn't expected you to… sit … on the brink of… oh, nevermind!" Sakura laughed at her own stupidity.

Of course it was the cat! Who else could it be? She had completely forgotten about the tiny creature, that apparently had followed her into her bathroom. That explained, why she hadn't seen anyone when she turned around the first time. She hadn't thought about looking at the floor! It also explained the tickle of breath on her neck, seeing as the kitten had stood right behind her on the edge of the bath tube.

"Thank god, it was you!" Sakura exclaimed, her voice full of relief, which was greeted with a questioning mewl.

It didn't unfortunately explain the dream, the goosebumps on her back, and why she had thought that she had seen a red eye floating in midair behind her only seconds before she had started screaming…

"Sakura? Are you alright? We heard you scream," came her mother's worried voice from below.

"Yes, I'm fine, mom. I just… dozed off in the tube and had a bad dream…" she finished weakly.

"Are you sure you're alright, sweetheart?"

"Yes, I'm just great. Really. I just didn't get much sleep last night. You know how Ino is," Sakura answered as she stepped out into her bedroom and walked over to her cupboard.

Her mother seemed happy with that explaination, or completely unhappy, depending on how you saw it. She immediately launched into a rant on how irresponsible Sakura's best friend was, and that the blonde shouldn't drag her daughter into the affair every single time, after all she had parents of her own-

"Ecetera, ecetera, ecetera…" Sakura mumbled on, shaking her head. As if Ino would ever change! And it was not like she minded- too much. Sure, it was annoying to always have to pick up a wasted blonde, but Ino was her best friend and she would do it, if only to make sure that the girl didn't get raped or something. Besides, if she weren't such a 'prude' as Ino liked to put it, she'd be right beside Ino, staggering down the street at ungodly hours. Shaking her head again, she slid the red tanktop over her head, before slipping into her knee-length black skirt. Putting her sandals on and grabbing her purse, she left a still slightly humid kitten in the care of her flabbergastered parents and went off. On her way out the door, Sakura quickly grabbed the food she had prepared yesterday, while waiting for Ino to call her, and flew out the door.

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(15 minutes later)

When she arrived at the park, she noticed that the others were already there. There whole group, just laying out the blankets and unpacking the food. Raising an eyebrow she wondered if she had misread the watch. They weren't due to meet for another hour or so, and yet everyone was already there. Something which she immediately acknowledged when one black-haired boy with a bowl-cut and fuzzy brows, wearing a green leotard ran up to her to grab her hand and kiss her knuckles in greeting.

'Help,' Sakura thought.

"Greetings, my youthful Blossom!" the boy shouted so loud some of the passersby turned towards them and chuckled.

Sakura hid her face in her free hand, flushing bright red from embarrassment, but the boy- Lee- seemed not to notice as he continued his rant about how 'youthful' and 'pretty' she, the 'young Blossom of Konoha', was. The pink-haired girl chanced a quick look between her fingers over at her friends, who were rolling in the grass with laughter- mostly the blondes, one being Ino, the other her best friend Naruto. Even the usually emotionless Sasuke, and an equally stoic Neji smirked at her predicament. She mouthed them her very first thought upon seeing the Green Beast, and finally, finally one of her so-called friends had mercy with her.

"Come on, Lee. We came here to picknick, so let's get on with it," a girl who wore her brown hair in two identical buns dragged the boy away from Sakura. She wore a chinese style shirt and a pair of loose pants.

"Hello, Tenten," the pink-haired girl greeted her friend, while conveying 'Thank you, thank you, thank you' along with it.

"Hi, Sakura," the girl greeted her back, winking at her as if to say 'no problem, but you owe me'.

Sakura smiled.

"Hey guys," she cheered as she ran over to hug the others, though their favorite lazy genius Shikamaru, wouldn't stand up to get his hug and Choji was almost too busy eating his chips. In the end, Sakura just sat down on one of the blankets beside Neji's cousin Hinata, who helped her unpack the food she brought. "So, how was your weekend till now, everyone?"

"Oh, well, I was at this bar yesterday and…"

"I know your weekend schedule, Ino, I was there if you remember."

"Yeah, but the others don't," the blonde protested.

"And we don't want to know, either," a boy in a leather jacket, Kiba, told her, making everyone laugh. Only Ino huffed indignantly. "As for me, I was out with my sister, training Akamaru."

At this, the giant white bundle of fur behind him started to move, raising it's head and barking loudly. Sakura giggled and leaned forward to scratch the dogs head, only to be slightly growled at.

"Oi, Akamaru!" Kiba admonished his dog. "What was that for?"

"It's okay," Sakura suddenly said. "It's probably because I smell like cat."

"Like cat?" the others asked.

"Yeah, she saved a cat yesterday night-"

"More like this early morning considering how long you stayed at the bar," Sakura muttered, earning her a chuckle from her friends.

"ANYWAY, I thought I'd die of a heartattack, when Miss Pink here decided to jumped infront of a car. I thought she'd finally lost it-"

"OI, what's that supposed to mean?!" the other girl protested, but Ino ignored her.

"And then she comes back, with a black kitten in her arms- and I so wanted to slap some sense into her! I mean a kitten?!"

"I could hardly let it die!"

"Oh, hush you!"

"Still, Sakura-chan," Hinata spoke up hesitantly for the first time. "That was very heroic of you."

"Thanks, Hinata. At least someone who knows how to appreciate a good deed." Sakura nodded for emphasis.

Ino rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I know how to appreciate a good deed, alright, and if you had saved a kid I'd be the first to applaude you. But, come on, a kitten? A freaking kitten?"

"Whatever," Sakura grumbled. "What about the rest of you?"

Time flew by as everyone gave their responses, which ranged from short as in one-word-answers ( Neji, Sasuke, and Shino said 'Training') to long lectures about different hairproducts that got them all shiny (Lee). Sandwiches and soda was passed around, and even a beer or two- courtesy of Ino- as conversations went on, people sitting down in little groups that changed once in a while. After talking and laughing with her friends for a few hours, Sakura had almost forgotten her unpleasant feeling of the morning, until she ended up beside Hinata again, who seemed to be strangely off herself.

"What's wrong, Hinata?" the pink-haired girl asked, concerned.

"I don't know," the pale-eyed girl stuttered a bit. "It's just… something is off."

Now, someone who didn't know the Hyuuga Family might have laughed about it and called her silly for worrying over nothing, but in Konoha it was vastly acknowledged that Hinata's kin had some kind of empathy for the otherworld. Their pearl-white eyes, which were seemingly blind, saw so much more than other people could imagine. So, if Hinata Hyuuga said that something was off, then it probably was. Sakura took a quick glance at Neji, and saw him to be similarily unsettled, only that he was better at hiding it. Still, Hinata's cousin was dragging his lavender eyes over the landscape just as much as the blue-haired girl beside Sakura. None of the other seemed to have noticed the Hyuugas' discomfort, though. Sakura bit her lip in anticipation.

"I… I had a strange dream tonight," she admitted to Hinata's surprise. "I can't remember what it was about, but… it… gave me the creeps. Even when I just think about it now, it still… And then, when I was in the bathroom. I felt as if someone was watching me, but when I turned around… there was no one there. I… felt a tickle of breath on my neck, then… and I… I saw a red eye… for a moment, then it was gone… But maybe I just dosed off…"

"No," Hinata assured her, her stutter gone for but a second until she continued. "It was real, I'm sure. I can feel it now… A presence, something luscious and dark… like black silk… It chills me to the bone. You have to be careful, Sakura."

"Why me?"

"Because it was in your bathroom this morning, so it's obviously after you," Neji's smooth voice told her. When had he walked over?

"What do you see?" Sakura wanted to know.

"Nothing, but a flicker in the air as if of heat," the brown-haired boy answered.

"But it's black and silver," Hinata added shakingly, pointing at a row of trees to their left. "Right there, in the shade of the trees. You should be care-"

"Oi! Sakura-chan? Aren't you supposed to go to that charity-something?" Naruto yelled over as he bounced to his feet, interrupting the pale-eyed girl, who blushed furiously. "Come on, I'll walk you there!"

"Uhm… No thanks, Naruto. It isn't that far. I can make it on my own," Sakura answered, and the boy's face fell. "But you could walk Hinata home. Neji will probably go training now, anyway."

Said Hyuuga shot her a death glare that said clearly 'over my dead body'.

"Anyway, bye guys!"

"Bye!"

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( 45 minutes later)

Sakura was in the middle of giving another homeless person a scoop of heated soup. She liked doing that. Liked helping out at the local hospital when they gave out warm meals for the people without shelter once in a week. Sarutobi-sama, the Hokage of Konoha, was a very generous person and had iniciated this whole thing. Ever since she had heard about it during her first lecture of medicine, she had come here every Sunday to help. By now, everyone here knew the crazy girl with the bright pink hair and she knew most of the people here as well. She enjoyed talking to everyone while she cleaned the tables after everyone had gotten their foot (by which time some of them would've already finished).

Anyway, she had been in the middle of giving another homeless person a scoop of heated soup, when she noticed something strange about the man. For once, she had never seen him there before, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. Then again, he did wear a long, thick scarf around his face and neck, though it was pretty warm out there., though the night could still be chilly.

But the thing that really worried her was the flash of red underneath his hoodie just were his left eye was supposed to be…

End of chapter 3!

A/N: Things are getting mysterious. Well, a bit. I hope you liked the chapter, and please leave a review!